"David
Harum," "Eben Holden," or "Janice Meredith," to find a fresh range of
unheard-of novels of equal or more than equal interest. This enlargement
of their circle of congenial authors is welcomed with every grateful
appreciation. A list of good short stories is another resource, and one
of cheerful books for invalids; stories that are neither morbid nor
tragic. Young working men who can come to the library only at evening
are glad of assistance in selecting books related to their work and they
are quick to respond to any evidence of sympathetic interest in their
pursuit. Young girls employed during the day who wish to make up for the
lack of opportunities in school are eager and grateful for advice in
outlining courses of reading and study; those studying music are glad of
guidance into the more interesting pathways of musical literature, or it
may be the amateur in some branch of art who reveals a cherished
ambition in the hope of obtaining help in this direction, and
delightfully friendly relations spring into being while these various
lists are under way.

Often the chance encounter, the mere passing remark, brings the happy
inspiration as to just the right books, as when one catches a glimpse of
a deep enthusiasm for nature surviving in the breast of a man through
fifty years spent between city walls. To introduce him to Richard
Jeffries, most intense, nearest to nature's spirit, and least known of
nature's lovers, is to enrich the remaining years of this man's life.

All who go to the library go as seekers. Some are seeking merely
entertainment, others are searching for knowledge, but many are
struggling with the deep problems that beset us all, perhaps in moral or
spiritual darkness, and looking only for light. If one's heart is with
the people, nothing so quickens perception as sympathy. One notes the
trend of the reading of the individual, and often what he is seeking is
intuitively divined. Perhaps the simple remark, "If you can tell me just
what you want I may be able to find it for you," results in a frank
statement of the difficulty, or an outburst of sudden confidence is
given from the impulse that makes it often easier to confide in a
stranger than in a relative. And it counts for a good deal just then if
the one at the information desk knows what writer has felt and thought
most deeply and has written most clearly and helpfully on that subject.
Few are the needs of the human heart or mind that are rea